PacificSource Foundation for Health Improvement Provides $500,000 Grant to the Unity Center’s Peer Support Program

(Springfield, Ore.) May 3, 2017— The PacificSource Foundation for Health Improvement has provided a grant of $500,000 to the Unity Center for Behavioral Health’s Peer Support Bridger Specialist Program. The Unity Center is a 24-hour behavioral and mental health services center located in Portland, Oregon that provides psychiatric care, and a path to recovery, for adults and juveniles who are experiencing a mental health crisis. The Foundation’s grant will be distributed over a five-year period from Jan. 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, 2021.

The Unity Center’s Peer Support Bridger Specialist Program features “Peer Bridgers” who serve as peer support specialists. These specialists work with patients to create a bridge between the Unity Center and community providers, as well as help patients access other community resources.

“We are so pleased to be part of the Unity Center’s collaboration and to help support community-based care and peer-delivered support,” said Marian Blankenship, executive director of PacificSource’s Foundation for Health Improvement. “The Bridger Specialist Program works with some of the highest need patients that come through the Center’s door. That speaks strongly to our Foundation’s ongoing mission to promote community health improvement guided by the touchstones of better health, better care, and lower costs.”

The Unity Center for Behavioral Health is a collaboration between four major regional health systems: Adventist Health, Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health Foundation, and Oregon Health and Science University, as well as 45 community partners. 

The Unity Center is open 24 hours and is located at the Legacy Health Holladay Park campus at 1225 N.E. 2nd Ave in Portland, Oregon. 

About PacificSource Health Plans 

PacificSource Health Plans is an independent, regional, not-for-profit community health plan serving the Northwest. Founded in 1933, PacificSource is based in Springfield with local offices throughout Oregon, and in Idaho and Montana. The PacificSource family of companies employs 900 people, serves more than 300,000 individuals, and has 3,900 employer clients throughout the Northwest. For more information visit PacificSource.com.